Chapter 12 - An Unlikely Alliance
Maya woke with a violent jolt, gasping as her hand instinctively reached for the pocket where her mother's locket had been kept. Seeing Victoria standing beside the desk, the child’s breathing slowly leveled out. Victoria walked over, kneeling beside the cracked vinyl recliner. ""Maya, your mother didn't just try to save you,"" Victoria said gently, brushing a stray braid away from the girl's forehead. ""She tried to save everyone. And she left the key with you."" Maya looked at the green screen glowing in the corner of the office, her hazel eyes reflecting the scrolling numbers with an ancient sorrow no seven-year-old should possess.
""She told me if I stayed alive, the truth would find someone strong enough to listen,"" Maya said, her voice small but piercingly clear. Victoria looked up at Miller, who pulled a heavy steel twelve-gauge shotgun from beneath his workbench and began loading red shells into the tubular magazine. ""I can't take down Vance Global's private military, Victoria,"" Miller said flatly. ""But I can get you into Terminal 44 before that ship casts off its lines. What you do with the federal authorities after that is your business.""
Victoria shook her head firmly. ""The federal authorities are compromised. Julian bought off the regional port director three years ago; it’s all here in Elena’s ledger. If we call them, the containers will simply disappear into the ocean before anyone arrives."" Victoria stood up straight, the soft corporate executive vanishing entirely, replaced by someone cold, resolute, and dangerous. ""We don't call the police. We call the press, we broadcast the encryption keys live across public maritime bands, and we take Terminal 44 ourselves.""
